Today is a Special day, a day in the Automotive World that marks the True Toyota Corolla in our lives aka The Hachi Roku (Japanese for eight-six) it is The David of Goliath in Motorsports around the world. From Drifting, or Drag Racing to Time Attack and in almost any type of racing you cannot miss this little beast of a Car. Even seen in Rally courses it’s a very known car that has seen it’s battles on the tracks and anywhere else. First introduced in the 80’s as a simple 2 Door Coupe or Hatch Back with nothing other than the needed features to drive a vehicle. Toyota hit the Lotto with this one, It’s obvious some sportiness and intention to make a car that would be fun to drive was in the works, but little did the Toyota Employees of those yesteryears know how much of an impact a Car would make in years to come.
Exactly 30 years ago it was intoduced as the Toyota Corolla Levin or Toyota Corolla Trueno, the Levin known for it’s Fixed Headlights and the Trueno for it’s retractable eyes. Without getting into to much technical detail and specifications that most fans and owners know, let’s just say that through the years it stapled itself to be a reputable piece of art. Easy to work on and parts where very affordable, some call it the poor man’s race car due to the availability and parts where in the thousands. The Aftermarket Industry has backed up almost every component on the vehicle with minimal costs. Used parts are everywhere and now in our modern era the roles are starting to reverse. Prices for clean or un-touched examples are harder to find and could easily fetch 5-10 times it’s true Blue Book Value. Some Rare cases people have resorted to offering them up For Sale for ridiculous amounts and advancing the Collector Car Owners price way to early.. Talking about one case found on Autotrader.com for $120,000!! Now if he ever sold it, which I doubt it it would bring prices of this glorified machine to un-affordable status and just as the car goes up so does the parts in the market.
Gratefully with patience and good research you can still find them at decent prices or if they gone under the knife of modifications, the value is still within reach.
As an owner of 4 in my past I surely would still want another one someday, with each one having some regret it’s a hard car to let go. Some or most end up getting them again, seeing multiple ownerships on these cars are common and since they don’t make them like they use to, it’s more likely the reason for this type of Car Addiction.
The AE86 is surely an Enthusiasts car and possibly the Best we have seen. Now that the FT-86 is out which is a modern day updated AE86 in todays world, Toyota won the Lotto again with it, other than partially keeping the name they made it right which is it’s suppose to be a Fun To Drive Entry Level Sports Car. A Formula that is in all interests pure, and raw to the nature of spirited driving or racing.
If your reading this and have an AE86 Keep it!, and if you have an FT-86 Hats Off to you, for you could be the next 86 Addicts for the next 30 years to come…. “Long Live the AE86”!! -Rommel/Motolyric #thisiscarculture #motolyric #dontletoff #ae86 #hachiroku
